There are numerous prior art devices for receiving and centering a vertical section of pipe as the pipe is removed from and added to a pipe string associated with a borehole. The added or removed sections of pipe are held in suspended relationship respective to the borehole and to the suspended string of pipe remaining in the borehole so as to enable the confronting pipe ends to be properly mated. The following U.S. Pat. Nos. illustrate that part of the prior art considered most pertinent to the present disclosure:
2,692,059; 3,533,516; 4,172,684; 4,432,691; PA1 2,828,024; 4,111,388; 4,274,777; 4,440,536.
Reference is made to the above prior art as well as to the references cited therein and the entire field of search suggested by such prior art. In the prior art apparatus known at this time, the various different devices for positioning pipe respective to a drilling derrick or workover rig are complex and usually semi-permanently attached to the rig.
There are geographical areas where the winds reach a very high velocity, and it is often necessary for a workover rig, for example, to continue working in such adverse weather conditions. This is because the workover rig and crew are expensive and it is not always feasible or economically expedient to suspend a workover operation merely because of adverse weather conditions. High winds tend to oscilate or laterally move a pipe string in unexpected directions, and therefore constitute a danger to the workmen and the equipment associated with such a borehole operation.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have made available a device for stabilizing a suspended section of the pipe string respective to the derrick in a safe, fast, and economical manner. It is furthermore desirable that such a device be removably affixed to the derrick so that the apparatus is easily attached to and thereafter removed from the derrick so that the apparatus is available for use in conjunction with each of the workover operations. An apparatus which achieves these desirable goals is the subject of the present invention.